(B9) Home: Front Cover & Test Prints

 Names for the book:

• Placeways
• A Theory of Human Environment
• A Sense of Place 
• Sense of Place

The book feels like looking into my perspective of Sheffield, being able to understand my sense of the city. When talking to peers I became clear that everyone has their own sense of place and this is the key thing I want to communicate through my publication.
- Had the thought at the start of the project about the book being a collection of different perspectives with a range of photographs. 
- Still think this could be interesting to experiment with post submission, developing publications that explore individual sense of space form my peers. 
I want to showcase this on the cover that it is my perspective. I've realsied that a place exists in many different forms through many different people. I will have a sense of Sheffield that is different to everyone else that lives there so Sheffield to me is different than Sheffield to the person interacting with the book, but I want to provide a glimpse into how I sense the place through my book. 

Front cover ideas:

- Use a photo from the publication

- Request a final photo of cityscape from felix

- Use existing photo of cityscape from personal log

- Incorporate the locations into the cover

Testing location idea:

Like the simplicity of it, not sure it matches with the inside pages though. Could draw the points my hand instead 'x's to mark the spots? 

- Could have these layers over an image or be accompanied by an image.

Could use more personal imagery, showing my sense of place. Finding a photo that showcases what Sheffield is to me as a place since the book is exploring the topic from my perspective. 

- Try this with hand-drawn locations. 

For the back page think it would be good to have text that talks about the final outcome, what the book is displaying, in an objective way for the reader.

Test print:

Test print was a success the method of taping tipins to the page with washi tape worked and didn't rip anything. 

A few notes:

- Need images to be moved away from centre spine a little

- Same with tip-ins, particularly essay intro (did this yesterday when printed paper, left 8mm extra on the bind side). 

- Last two images show with an image tip in. Adding these to the book helps make the text tip ins feel less abnormal and break up the pacing, increase interactivity. Need to work out what images as where. 

Final Book Layout (Digital):

Cover on book:

Bulkynewsprint as the cover doesn't feel formal enough, it's too delicate and flimsy for a cover, it needs to be something more sturdy.

Antique white was a good cover option or cartridge paper could work too. 

The design needs more consideration, it's quite a different tone to the inside with the image spanning over the spine of the book. 

The hand-drawn markings work really well, these should be included. 

Esther MacManus Book Covers:

Feel personal due to the paper and ink choices, the hand-made print textured tone to them provides a sense of comfort and warms.

- Could think about this with type on cover, make it a little distressed, feel more like a stamp? 

Playful tone of page colour is really nice, sets up the feeling for the rest of the publication.

- Is this something I need to think about with my book? Paper colour and ink, could experiment. 

Working on Cover

- This one feels stronger, having the image not bleed over to the back works with the tone of the publication. Overlaid dots mirror the tipins inside the book. 

- Text is too large on these examples.

- Having the image on the back makes it feel like a memorie or in memory of something, not sure if this is appropriate. 

- This one is more on the right track. 

- Looks good without the image but not sure if I want to include the photo, I feel it sets a tone for the publication. 

- Tried with a less personal photograph but it feels cold and distant. 

The cover should resemble my sense of Sheffield or allude to it at least. 

- One of these, can play with paper stock, introduce a colour for the cover? 

Feedback from peer crit about cover design
- Simple is better, provides less of an obvious tone so the audience can interpret text
- The location dots are a great image to have, fit with the more abstract themes and focus on materiality. 

- Like the image but it makes it look a bit like a scrapbook, doesn't match the imagery inside
- Cover with stairs as image is much too cold, very different from the others, not in a good way
- Could make text a bit smaller, have less of an aggressive tone. 

Will go with these covers:

Need to test on paper stock.
Then decide final.

Copy for blurb:

Key quote from text that sums up the project: 'No city is what it used to be. The same place does not remain the same. Yet, despite great changes, some places continue to make sense.'

A sense of place is our personal recognition of space, we view spaces from an individual perspective.

Paper stock tests:

- Tested on several paperstocks, they all have different qualities to them that make them an attractive option for a cover. 

- The colour of the blue has a great tone to it that matches the rest of the publication, as does the pale yellow. 

- Experimented with red text on the blue cover and it didn't work very well, it looked like blood and wasn't very indirring. The black and white colours are more enticing as there is higher contrast.  

Test prints with cyclus and olin:

Cyclus is used here for the pages that contain my handwritten stories. This was really great for the pages where it didn't impact an image but for the pages with imagery it meant they appeared a lot darker and not as appealing to look at. 

If I were to have more time on the project I would rearrange the page structure to be able to incorporate this paper as it adds another layer of texture to the publication. However, as I'm incorporating image tip in as well, and I am not able to reprint the pages I think the book will still be effective without this feature. 

End Pages:

Looking at the end pages of paper backed books that I own, without them on the test print they it looked and felt unfinished. Some pages have the title and information about the content - here would be a place to put credits to the photographer and the designer. 

What colour?

- Yellow end page, was too thin so could see the text through. Adding another color was too much for the publication as the first spread shows pink paper also. 

- Using bulky newsprint, adds a nice tactility to the book and is a neutral tone so doesn't overpower. 

^ Simple text to be printed on the end pages, title and credits in italics to match the cover design.

All pages are printed and cut down, using masking tape to fix tip-ins in place, need to bind and then photograph. 

(B9) Home: Finalising Pages and Prepping for Print

-Hand written stories for the publications, keeping the hand written elements to the personal stories as this is where it's most appropriate, no annotation on essay, this doesn't work as well.

Adding to pages:

- Experimenting with overlaying on the images, thinking back to the printer error that happened last week and how it developed an interesting composition. 

- Not sure it's suitable for larger bodies of text. 

- Simple placement on the page, does everything need to be on the same page, does there need to be something on every page? 

- Using tip ins with the hand drawn text will be a great way to add more personality and warmth to the publication, using bulky newsprint for these sections to provide more texture to the book. 

- This layout of imagery is really effective, not sure if a tip in will distract.

- Using large text, when printed out this was way to overpowering compared to the previous experiment. Would be better to keep to a similar size as the essay text so nothing stands out as something too different, want it all to feel comfortable. 

Researching:

JAMES PATTERSON: https://jamiepatterson.co.uk/42

Kerning While Crying

• Use of imagery and material in this book is what makes it so enticing, figuring out the content of each image is almost like a game as the medium appears to be printed on tracing paper (or something similar)
  - The current considerations have been able feel, could think about how they influence experience visually as well as physically to broaden the range within the book. 
  - Seeing the book as it's own physical space so how can I communicate a sense of place through the publication (materiality). 
• The project was undertaken as a way to bring self back to practice, love this sentiment of using your practice to navigate and learn more about it, a very cyclical relationship. 

 “Living in a small town in Ireland,” she continues, “books were windows into intimate worlds I hadn’t experienced or ever knew existed.” They captured ideas and feelings that moved her in new ways, - Sue Murphy (https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/sue-murphy-bookshelf-graphic-design-220720)

This idea of a book being a way to see into some else world and provide a viewpoint that is unknown is really interesting and I feel encapsulates what I'm trying to do with my publication. I aim to provide insight into how I view the city and the sense of place I have, through the medium of print. 

- Using tracing paper as a tip in, would be able to view spread in full as well as read the text, adds another layer to the publication in terms of texture with the paperstock. 

- Would need to see within the whole book how this would work. 

Experiment with Essay text as tip-ins and stories written on the page:

Something about it doesn't sit right, having the essay information in bits and bobs throughout the book becomes confusing to follow, particularly when there's other text throughout the book.

• Keeping the essay at the start of the book and then the handwritten stories throughout the imagery spreads, this way the audience can read the literature and reflect upon it throughout the book. 
  - The pink paper for the essay tip-in creates a contrast against the imagery, adds another layer to the project, and helps differentiate it from the rest of the text.
• The tip-ins were really successful though at breaking the pages up and providing something to read alongside looking at the content. Could have the essay as a tip-in mini book at the start of the publication and then the handwritten stories can be on tip-ins throughout the rest of the book.
• Handwritten text can be made much smaller to match the essay text. 

Essay Introduction as tip-in at the start, stories as tip-ins throughout:

Some of the story tip ins only had text on one side so it meant the composition of the spread was compromised.

- Could change the size of the tip-ins so they're smaller and vary in size and placement depending on the spread. 

^ Would look more like this.

This is getting there, it works really well for some of the spreads but not so much for others. Could place more text on the page with images (like post box spread) and then have others with tracking paper tip-ins. 

To achieve the results I want with tip-ins and a range of paper stock it would be best to use perfect binding for the publication. 

Originally I wanted the pages to be able to lie flat so the audience doesn't need to hold the book to see the work, however, after interacting with books at home to figure out the feeling I want to achieve I noticed with a perfect-bound book I was interacting with the material more as if I put it down I wasn't able to see the content. 
- You become more aware of the material and form of the book with perfect binding, it's harder to be passive with the medium. 

Need to complete a test print.

Thinking about time:

- If sent to print by tomorrow @9am (latest) would be able to collect Thursday afternoon and make alterations to pages send final to digital print by 9am Friday to receive final pages on Friday afternoon. 
- Do a test bind on Friday morning

To do next:
 - figure out paper stock for pages
 - scan hand written text @600dpi and edit again
 - test print whole book

Left - cyclus, Right - olin

Comparing the colour difference between these paper stocks. The colours are more true on the olin, cyclus has too much of an off white tint. 

Olin with Cyclus

Olin with Bulky Newsprint

-Comparing paper stock to use for the handwritten text tip-ins.

- Bulky newsprint has the best texture, it's more open and feels softer, which compliments with the tone of the text. 

80gsm

135gsm

Comparing pink paper for the beginning essay. Not sure if the tone of one is too bright compared to the other but the lighter weight paper is more see through which wouldn't work well with text (need to test).

Should look inthe library at the other paper stock available. 

Testing text when printing (also paper stock against image):

IvyPresto Text light
10pt size, 13pt leading, 98% height and 102% width.

This was the most successful variation on type, it's easily legible but contains softer serifs than time and other serif typefaces. 

The handwritten text was also successful when test printed, the text appears much darker than on screen which is good as the PNG files appear rather light weight.

Different coloured paper experiments over the image that would be on the first page of the photos. 
- Pink compliments the tones in the imagery the best, the other two clash and present an uneasy appearance. 

Printing in uni a test
- Needed to change last spread as page numbers were uneven.

Tipins printed in the studio, image pages to be printed in digital print. 

Experimenting with layout as lose pages:

• I like how it looked as a piece of work, however, a key part of the project is focusing on the interaction. The handling of this publication feels unusual, the experience should be something familiar so the audience is comfortable with the content. 
• By having the pages laid out like this the text that accompanies the imagery gets lost.
  - Could this be rectified, the introduction of page numbers could solve the issue?